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Insurance
plans have traditionally been a very popular tax saving tool considered
by many people. Almost 70 percent of the overall insurance related
products are sold in the quarter from January to March. While insurance
plans do offer tax benefits up to Rs 1 lakh under section 80c of the
income tax act, new change in rules and regulations especially with the
implementation of Direct Taxes Code (DTC) means one needs to be careful
while selecting any insurance product simply because of its tax related
benefits. Here are some things to note while taking life insurance
premiums for tax saving.
Not all Insurance Payments are Tax Free:
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With
dollar appreciating by around 20% against the rupee, general insurance
companies have obtained approval of market regulator Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority to raise the premium amount on
travel insurance. Industry experts believe that rise in premium amount
could be over 10%, which is in proportion to rise in the claim cost.
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With
regard to compliance of new regulations implemented by market regulator
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), which aims at
making insurance policies more customers centric, insurance giant Life
Insurance Corporation of India scrapped / will scrape 14 of its existing
policies. These policies include Jeevan Mitra, Anmol Jeevan,
Convertible Term Assurance Policies, Children Deferred Endowment
Assurance, Jeevan Paramukh Plan, LIC’s Bima Account and Jeevan Nidhi.
Other polices that are expected to be scrapped are Jeevan Aastha, Market
Plus I, Jeevan Nischay and Jeevan Varsha.
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Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) issued a draft circular on policy servicing forms. The two main stipulations that IRDA has focused on are - (1) Availability in Languages recognized under Constitution of India (2) Minimum Font Size of “Times New Roman 7”
(1) Availability in Languages recognized under Constitution of India
While the existing regulations specify that all print material, used in the pre-sales and sales process, shall be made available in multiple languages, there is no rule for making available all the forms used during the course of post-sale policy servicing such as; claims, loans, surrender, alterations, nominations, assignments, revivals etc. Therefore, IRDA has advised all the Insurers to make available all the policy servicing forms also in languages recognized under the Constitution of India.
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A
life insurance policy lapses when the due premium has not been paid
even within the grace period. A lapsed policy means that the benefit of
insurance will not be available to protect the financial interest of the
dependants in the event of the death of the insured. A lapsed cover can
be revived by the policyholder during the period allowed by insurer
before its maturity. The procedure for revival depends on the type of
policy and the duration of its lapse.
http://www.myallagents.com/Things-to-know-about-reviving-a-lapsed-insurance-policy/details.html
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Insurance customers and their nominees don't have to suffer inordinate delays in claim settlement anymore. A new circular from Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (Irda) is going to change the current opaque scenario from April 1.
"While unclaimed amount is not uncommon in insurance sector, a steep increase in unclaimed amount is a cause of concern," the regulator said in the circular that put out the figures of unclaimed insurance proceeds in the public domain for the first time. The unclaimed amount swelled from Rs3,037 crore in 2011-12 to Rs4,865 crore in 2012-13 — an increase of over 60 per cent. The unclaimed money is the result of insurance proceeds that have failed to reach policyholders or their nominees in time for various reasons. Needless to say, it completely defeats the entire purpose of buying an insurance cover.
http://www.myallagents.com/Policyholders-will-be-able-to-get-details-of-unclaimed-insurance-online/details.html
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Sanjay Datta, chief, underwriting and claims, ICICI Lombard, says people should have a comprehensive insurance plan and a critical illness policy.
Since the latter offers a fixed sum once the illness is diagnosed, the
person can use the money for medication and hospitalisation. "The health
cover takes care of the hospital bills. The pay-outs can be used to
fund your travel, food, pre- and post-treatment expenses and so on,
which a comprehensive plan won't."
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In
one sentence, purchasing insurance online is convenient, fast and
usually cost you lesser. The insurers know the potential of this
distribution channel and therefore have the entire product range-from
life to health, motor and travel-available on the net for you. With
click of a mouse you can buy any policy from any corner of the world at
any point of time.
Buying Benefits: The
distribution efficiency also leads to cost efficiency. Since the
customer buys directly from the insurer, the distributor's margin (or
commissions) is saved. Also, the entire process is carried in the
virtual world and is paperless, reducing the costs further. These
savings are usually shared with the customer in the form of lower
premiums.
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Getting insurance companies to pay claims is
the hard part at times. Though the claims ratio of most insurance
companies is 94-98 per cent, claimants often have to run pillar to post
to get these. There are various reasons due to which claims can be
rejected. Among these is a delay on the part of theclaimant.
Under the Limitation Act, a claimant has to tell the company about the death in three years. The company can refuse to pay the claim if told beyond this period. But, in case of genuine reasons, the company has to pay.  |
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Mr.
Rishi Piparaiya, Director – Marketing and Banassurance at Aviva India
announced the launch of on-line life insurance plan i-life secure. This
plan provides for guaranteed income for 15 years post death of the life
insured. Adding to the above, he said that this plan ensures that the
family of the deceased and their needs are protected, whether it is the
child’s school fees, EMI for housing loan or protection of the family by
way of regular income.
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MUMBAI:
Private sector general insurer Liberty Videocon is confident of
achieving its initial target of Rs 120 crore in the first year of
operations on the back of growth in motor and commercial verticals, a
top company official said here today.
"Our
target for this fiscal, which is the first year of our operations, is
Rs 120 crore. We have already collected a premium of around Rs 65 crore
as of now, which is in line with our initial target," Chief Executive
Officer of Liberty Videocon General Insurance, Roopam Asthana, told PTI
in an interaction here.
The
new entrant to the general insurance industry said around 70 per cent
of premium was collected from its retail business, while rest 30 per
cent is from commercial segments.
http://www.myallagents.com/Liberty-Videocon-hopes-to-meet-business-target-by-March/details.html |
